Widener champion golfer beating the odds

April 8, 2014

It is a sport that frustrates even the most able-bodied athletes, one that requires such lower body precision that if your body weight shifts even a little bit, it could spell disaster.

So imagine playing golf on just one leg?

"People ask me all the time, 'What's it like to have one leg?' and I say, 'I don't know. What's it like to have two legs?'" said Lee Thomas.

Lee is a four year letter winner for the Widener golf team and proud cancer survivor.

"I was diagnosed when I was 18-months-old with Rhabdomyosarcoma which is a muscle cancer. It was in my heel," said Lee.

Doctors amputated his lower leg and then the toddler when 12 rounds of chemotherapy. He learned to walk with a prosthetic, and has been cancer free ever since.

"It was never an excuse not to do something," said Lee. "It was always we are going to try and figure it out."

Despite the fact that he has an exemption and would be allowed to use the golf cart, Lee chooses to walk the course.

He has finished in the top 40 of his last two conference championships and has already left a lasting impression on his teammates.

"To be able to hit the ball without the core stability with just one leg is just unbelievable," said teammate Justin Kohli. "It's just great that Lee is able to do that. It's inspirational."

Lee is set to graduate in May with a Computer Science degree, and he already has a job lined up at J.P. Morgan.

Lee wants other kids to know that no obstacle is too tough to conquer.

"If you think it's a disability and that it is holding you back, then it is going to. I kind of have always looked at it like, I am going to laugh about it; I am going to find a way around it. I don't really consider it a disability. I consider it life," said Lee.

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